RbrtinTcsn

- Epilogue - Today, after 4,138 miles, I turned over my Ford Fusion Energi to Ford one final time. It has been a process longer than I expected, but it is finally over. The refund check from Ford Reacquired Vehicles arrived today at the local dealership, so I left work early to drop off the car and pick up the check. After 68 days in the shop the jerking motion that originally caused this process is still there, though it has been happening much less frequently. Admittedly, I haven’t been driving the car much after it arrived back from the second trip to the dealership service center. If Ford can finally fix the problem (my guess is that it’s the Transmission Controller Module, now that the transmission has been replaced), then someone may get a deal on a lightly used Energi. BTW - If you happen to be reading this and you’ve been offered a reacquired 2015 White Ford Fusion Energi Titanium with gray leather seats and lots of options, you may wish to read the posts above and make sure Ford has fixed the issue buying it (last three digits of the VIN are 076). Having gone through the process of making a Lemon Law claim and having it arbitrated by the BBB, let me pass along some things I learned. 1.) If you think you have a valid claim, go straight to the BBB. They have an Auto Line program set up for this, and I received a response the day after I filed my claim. This was a far faster response than what I had received from Ford. 2.) For the refund, all costs related to the purchase of the vehicle are refunded, minus a mileage (usage) fee and costs to fix any damage. The mileage fee is based on the purchase price, multiplied by the fraction of current mileage divided by 100,000 miles. Aftermarket accessories will not be covered in the refund. Overall it wasn't a bad car, but the fit and finish just wasn't up to the same standards of my ten-year old 4runner. Lots of little minor things: the gap at the front of the car and the hood was not uniform, the front of the headliner started to fray after 4,000 miles, and their were others. I won't even mention Sync. I might have kept it too if I had received a call from Ford after a few days instead of weeks. Here's a bit of info that I discovered, but not related to my problem, the ground clearance of a 2015 Ford Fusion Energi is 4.5 inches (the low point is at the body pan between the front wheels). No – I didn’t discover this the hard way – I actually measured this using a laser level (I was determining out how much ground clearance I’d need in the replacement vehicle). It’s odd that I can’t find this published anywhere. Here’s a timeline of the ordeal that will give you an example of the process should you need to do it: Early July 2015 (~3500 miles): First noticed occasional jerking motion when braking or accelerating during the first mile of travel. 4Aug2015 (3721 miles): Left Fusion at Jim Click Ford East Service Center in Tucson, Arizona. When I left the car, I provided a seven page report that included a description of the problem, how to replicate it, and including my guess at the source of the problem (with many of the data plots included above). Note that this wasn’t the dealership that I had purchased the car from, but it was the one that was closest to my home. 31Aug2015: Fusion still at dealership, spoke with service advisor about progress (still working on it), and mentioned Lemon Law. At this point, the problem was being worked by the assistant service manager. 4Sept2015: The service advisor called to tell me that, after consultation with Ford engineering, it had been decided to replace the transmission. The service advisor indicated that the transmission should be replaced and the car ready by the end of the next week. 11Sept2015: Haven’t heard back from the dealership. 16Sept2015: Contacted the service advisor, and the advisor explains that the now car won’t be ready until the following week (24Sept2015). At this point, 42 days into the process, I lost my patience and decided to make a Lemon Law claim. An e-mail was sent out on the Lemon Law violation to Ford Customer Service. Also Fedex’d a letter requesting a refund under the Arizona Lemon Law to Ford Customer Service. Additionally cc’d the letter to a number of people in Ford Executive management including CEO Mark Fields, the VP of North American Operations, and the VP of engineering. Cc’d the dealership owner, the service manager, and others on the letter. In all the cover letters for these, a positive tone was taken highlighting that this was an isolated problem for the Ford Motor Company team. (For the record, I have not received any responses from any of the executives, the service manager, or the dealership owner that I mailed. Not that I was expecting one.) 20Sept2015: After having not received any response from anyone at Ford, went to the BBB Auto Line website and made a claim. 21Sept2015: Contacted by a case manager/arbitrator at BBB Auto Line. 24Sept2015: Picked up Fusion at service center. Transmission had been replaced, and assistant service manager believed problem was fixed. Quality of the work performed was good. 25Sept2015: Vehicle experienced the jerking problem four times during the day. 3Oct2015: Received letter from Ford requesting that I call the Customer Relationship Center. This was the first response I had received to date, in any form, from the Ford company. 4Oct2014: Contacted Ford Customer Relationship Center. Though the representative I finally reached was helpful, there wasn’t anything he could do given that I had already gone to the BBB, apart from giving me the Ford case number. 6Oct2015: Left the Fusion at dealership again. This was after a trouble code had been set (the trouble code was for low Auxiliary Transmission Pump current), providing a new fault to diagnosis and perhaps something that might shed some light on the jerking problem. 14Oct2015: Received call from BBB arbitrator. During this conversation, the moment occurred where I realized that I would be requesting a refund and not a new vehicle. In the conversation, which could be described as terse, I had mentioned that I didn’t get a loaner vehicle the first time I brought the car in. The arbitrator explained to me, with a bit of impatience, “Ford doesn’t owe you a loaner car under the terms of the Bumper-to-Bumper warranty. Only when the Bumper-to-Bumper warranty expires and you are covered by the Powertrain warranty will you be eligible for a loaner vehicle.” …Huh? 15Oct2015: Received an e-mail from the BBB arbitrator agreeing that I was entitled to a refund, and outlining the settlement terms, and giving Ford 30 days to make good on the settlement. 23Oct2015: Picked up Fusion again. Auxiliary Transmission Pump had been replaced, and trouble code was gone. 29Oct2015: Received a call from Ford Reacquisition. The representative outlined the reacquisition process, and said that an e-mail would be sent in the next few days with an offer, based on the condition of the vehicle and the mileage. 30Oct2015: Packet with reacqusition paperwork sent to dealership. 10Nov2015: Drove vehicle to the dealership for reacquisition inspection and to sign off paperwork for refund (releases, Power of Attorney forms, etc.). During this trip, the jerking issue occurred again. 16Nov2015: Refund check arrived at dealership. Officially transferred ownership of the vehicle at the dealership and picked up the check. - The End - My best wishes to all you Fusion Energi owners – may your cars remain trouble-free and your miles all be EV. And before I forget: anyone interested in a Helms Service Manual, a set of Black Maxpider Floor Mats, or a 240/120V TurboCord Charging Cable (all for a 2015 Energi)? RbrtinTcsn

Another update. On Thursday, September 24th, the techs at the dealership finished the repair work. To their credit, they test drove the car over three days to check that the problem had been fixed, and the car looked great when it was delivered. An inspection showed nothing out of place, which isn't a typical experience for me. There were no problems as I drove the car back home in Hybrid (Auto) mode. Unfortunately this morning, the problem reappeared. After charging the HV Battery overnight, the vehicle jerked three times while driving during the first mile of travel. The car was in EV mode, and the problem occurred just as before, both under acceleration and regenerative braking. After charging for a few hours at work this morning, I experienced the problem again while moving the car to another parking spot. After letting the car sit for about an hour, I experienced the problem yet again. The symptoms are the same as before, both times happening with the car in EV mode. I have not driven around in Hybrid/Auto Mode to determine if the problem occurs there as well yet. I am continuing my effort to get a refund for this vehicle. With the replacement of the transmission, the only things left to replace are 1) the engine friction clutch plate/dampener, 2) the transmission control module, 3) the wiring harness between the transmission and control module, or 4) the engine. Clearly, Ford Engineering, who has been consulted on the repair, does not understand what is wrong with the vehicle. If you are reading this and deciding whether to buy or lease an Energi, I strongly recommend you look at a different product from a different manufacturer.

An update: On September the 3rd, after consultation with Ford Engineering, the dealer service department decided to replace the transmission. The transmission has arrived, but the Fusion has sat waiting for a technician to start the replacement. As of September 20th, the Fusion has been at the dealership (Jim Click Ford East) for 47 days. On Wednesday (9/16) of last week, my patience finally ended, and I officially requested refund for the vehicle under the terms of the Arizona Lemon Law. Part of the reason for my decision was the lack of a consistent answer from the service advisor on when the vehicle would be repaired after the replacement transmission arrived. Given the trouble that dealership and Ford has had diagnosing the problem, and the lack of priority in getting the vehicle repaired, I cannot recommend the purchase of a Ford Fusion Energi (or any Ford vehicle using the same hybrid drivetrain) at this time. It took the dealership, with the assistance of Ford Engineering, four weeks to diagnosis the problem with Fusion - three weeks longer than it took me to come to a similar diagnosis. While sometimes problems do occur, a warranty repair should not take more than a couple of weeks to complete.

Just an update for everyone...left the car at the nearest dealer on August 4. Dealer was able to duplicate the problem the following week and attempted to correct the problem by clearing the memory on several components. Not surprisingly, this did nothing to correct the problem. The dealership has contacted Ford Engineering to get advice on how to fix the problem.

No noticeable heating of any of the components (I've looked for clues in both the motor and inverter temperatures). As you might have seen in my previous post, I'm beginning to think that the problem is not in the transmission, but at the engine damper/clutch. To your second quesiton, I have not see a HVB drop that correlates with the jerk.

So, had some time to collect some more data. As I mentioned before, here's what I'm seeing in the data I'm collecting while the jerks occur: larryh - to answer a question from earlier, the HV power tends to track well (though delayed) with the EV Motor Commanded Torque: I've noticed something interesting: during the last few days, I don't see a noticeable drop-off in output motor torque like I used to. Instead, I am seeing a noticeable spike in the engine RPMs. The plots below show a trip where the jerk happened both during acceleration and regenerative braking: Zooming in on the first jerk event: And on the second: This new data makes me thing that the transmission problem may not be caused by a faulty Transmission Control Module, nor a bad Motor Torque sensor. It may be that the problem is being caused by the engine (or at least the engine input into the transmission) slipping. The slipping would explain why, early on, a drop in EV motor torque was seen. In EV mode, the Internal Combustion Engine basically presents the engine input from moving, allowing torque to be directed to the wheels. If the engine input starts spinning, then the torque on the EV motor should go down. Now, the jerk events are large enough that they are being picked up as engine rotation (as seen in the RPMs). (If you're new to this, and none of this makes sense there are several videos on YouTube that do a good job explaining how the eCVT in a Prius works, which is mechanically similar to that in the Fusion.) If the engine is spinning, one possibility is that the engine damper is slipping. This damper attaches to the flywheel and is similar to a clutch plate, except that it is permanently engaged. If the flywheel surface is contaminated, then this could slip and catch, causing the jerk. So that's where I am in the current diagnosis. The problem is getting a bit more frequent, and noticable, so it should be going to the dealership in the next week or two. Will keep everyone posted on how the diagnosis and repair.

The Transmission Control Module (TCM) is also referred to as the "Secondary OBD Control Module C". But it sits on top of the transmission, and controls it, and even the official shop manual refers to it as the TCM.

I've added HVBAT_V and HV_AMP, which are both available at the Transmission Control Module. Still no drop-off in power that correlates with the drop in output motor torque. In fact, power seems to be tracking with the motor command, which leads me to believe that the power is going somewhere. I'll have to do some more research on what might cause the output motor torque to drop when it appears that it is receiving power (incorrect power phasing to the three motor windings? bad torque sensor?). I need to post some plots of this anomaly for the engineers out there. The accelerator pedal sensor measurements look good (as well as the right front and left front wheel measurements, PHEV vehicle mode, and many others) - no noise or unexpected drop-outs that might explain the transmission jerk.

This occurs both in EV mode and standard Hybrid mode. An interruption in battery power could explain the drop in motor torque, and it has been something under investigation. While I haven't been logging BAT_PACK_VOLT and BATCURBECM, I have been logging M_INT_V (Motor Inverter Voltage) and G_INT_V (Generator Inverter Voltage). I haven't seen a consistent drop in either of these two voltages during the drop outs in MTQ_OUT, so I'm left to believe that the battery power is ok.

Thanks for the tip about using FORScan. I purchased a copy of FORScan Lite for my phone, and have been using that to data log. Unfortunately, no trouble codes besides a U0253 (means that the car looses communication with SYNC, but I expect this is par for the course with SYNC, and is unrelated to the transmission problem) I've discovered that the jerk/shudder happens when the electric motor torque output (MTQ_OUT) drops off suddenly from the commanded motor torque (MTQ_CMD), and then recovers just as quickly. I'm still looking into what's causing this.

Anyone experiencing intermittent transmission problems with their FFE? I have an almost-new 2015 Ford Fusion Energi with 3400 miles on it that, for the past two weeks, has been suffering an intermittent transmission-related problem. During the few minutes of a trip, the car will either jerk/shudder under light acceleration, or jerk during light to moderate braking. It may do this for a few moments, and then stop, and not reoccur for the rest of the trip. The problem is intermittent - it doesn't happen on every trip, or on a particular trip, but the problem has been experienced with both a cold or warm car. It also occurs both using the electric motor, and the ICE. The car has been used for commuting back and forth to work, and the occasional short trip (~50 miles). It's been treated gently during this entire time. Otherwise, the car shows no other signs of trouble. An under hood inspection has turned up no loose connections. No trouble codes have been set. And I haven't figured out how to get the problem to repeat consistently. I'll take this into the dealership once the problem is consistent enough that a tech will be able to recreate it. Thoughts and suggestions are appreciated - thanks.